Spidey 3 villians unmasked!

There's now word, finally, on what baddies your friendly neighborhood Spider-man will be doing battle with in the anticipated Spider-man 3, set to start filming in January.

Mary Jane herself, Kirsten Dunst, revealed that Thomas Haden Church and Topher Grace - who until now have kept their bad guy personas a secret - will play Venom and Sandman, respectively.

Check the new here:
Dunst Confirms 'Spidey 3' Villian Identities [Zap2it.com]

Hello Suzi

One of these days it may get crowded under the big blogosphere tent of the Internets, but there is always room for one who promises "Sex, Cocktails and a Smidgen of Politics -- or depending on the day, Politics, Cocktails and a smidgen of sin."

Longtime Little Rock writer Suzi Parker launched herself a blog on Tuesday with buzz on the new Huckabee School at Ouachita Baptist and a planned "billgramage" to the Clinton Library by "all those women still mad with your flirting and worse." The stunt is intended to promote a new book (of course) about the above-mentioned women.

You may remember Suzi, who has written on a freelance basis for numerous publications, for generating her own buzz over her first-person account of "Niagra," the sex drink for women. The drink, which reportedly makes "women feel all tingly in the right places," was created by an Arkansan and looked to have a bright business future but fizzled. Parker's graphic essay, "Genie In the Bottle: The Sex Drink That's Rocking Little Rock" on the adult site Nerve.com garnered a movie deal and Julia Roberts and Adam Sandler were attached at one time. Perhaps that movie got lost in development hell because we haven't heard anything in a while. Maybe she'll blog about it.

Suzi Parker
Word of the Week: Billgrimage [Dashboard]
A Little Sex Drink for Roberts and Sandler [Hollywood.com]

Sea Monster Caught on Video!

What coolness is this...after years of mystery the Giant Squid has at last been caught on video. Japanese scientists got the footage on cameras about 900 feet down in the cold, dark North Pacific Ocean.

Mmmm...wonder what she'd taste like deep fried, with some hush puppies and french fried taters...

UPDATE: Wikipedia has lotsa new information on the dramatic news.

Scientists Capture Giant Squid on Camera [Reuters]
Giant Squid [Wikipedia]

Reports of Death Were Greatly Exagerrated?

OK, I don't know if the Twain quote applies exactly but it does appear now that the horror stories of snipers, sharks swimming the streets, murder, rape and stacks of dead bodies at the Superdome and New Orleans Convention Center in the wake of Hurricane Katrina were somewhat exaggerated.

But one also wonders if this is a subtle spin by burned emergency management officials, "Well, you see...it wasn't THAT bad." Still, there were thousands of poor, hungry, tired and elderly Americans who could not get out of those places or get supplies because of poor planning and poor response.

Says the LA Times: "The wild rumors filled the vacuum and seemed to gain credence with each retelling — that an infant's body had been found in a trash can, that sharks from Lake Pontchartrain were swimming through the business district, that hundreds of bodies had been stacked in the Superdome basement."

UPDATE: And left-leaning media criticism blog Pre$$titutes says the rash of "myth" stories has the smell of right-wing spin...with folks like Drudge ("Media Made Mess of Storm News") offering the stories as proof of the "liberal media" once again out to get the Bush Administration.

Says Pre$$titutes: "But it wasn't those tall tales that had everyone up in arms. Americans were enraged that evacuees were left hopeless, homeless, hungry, thirsty, and without adequate medical attention for so long in the heart of a major American city. And this, four years after 9/11 and in full view of terrorists who now know we’re woefully unprepared when it comes to a domestic disaster of this magnitude."

Katrina Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy [Los Angeles Times]
Michelle Pilecki: Superdome Mayhem an Urban Myth [The Huffington Post]
Media Made Mess of Storm News [The Drudge Report]
Who You Gonna Believe, Me or Your Lying Eyes? [Pre$$titutes]

Expect the Unexpected

In assessing the Hogs' offensive woes against Alabama (a 24-13 loss), Arkansas Razorbacks Coach Houston Nutt told the Ark D-G that he blamed "penalties, faulty pass protection, [Robert] Johnson’s inexperience as a rookie quarterback, coaching and unexpected Alabama defensive schemes for the offense’s inability to score throughout the day."

He added about Bama's D: "The Tide had showed the multiple-defensive backs package a few times this season. Still, seeing it run more than 80 percent of the game Saturday was 'very surprising' and 'threw us off a little bit,' Nutt said."

This comes two weeks after the Hogs blew an 11-point lead to lose to now 4-0 Vanderbilt. During that game, the Hogs had a first and goal inside the 5-yard line but failed to get a touchdown on three straight inside runs. Nutt said later about the series and the Vandy D: "on the goal line stand, the defense put all 11 defenders near the line and knifed into the gaps, something Nutt said the Commodores had not previously shown."

Then, of course, there was the 70-17 loss to No. 1-ranked USC between these two efforts.

Indeed the seat is probably getting quite hot for Coach Nutt. I've been a fan of his for most of his time here, thinking he has largely succeeded in the toughest football conference in America without the depth of talent that he faces week to week in the Tennessees, LSUs, Georgias, etc. (I would hope, BTW, that those who complained about our soft schedule back in the SWC days are satisfied now.) I don't listen to Sports Talk Radio because the red neck, armchair quarterbacking really annoys me.

I knew this was going to be a tough season based on the schedule and a lack of experience at some key positions but after hearing what Nutt had to say after Vandy and Bama, I'm starting to lose a little faith in his program. I hope he can turn it around.

I hope he's better prepared for cupcake La.-Monroe (and then Auburn, then Georgia, etc.). I sure don't want to hear him say that an opponent did something unexpected or hear an opponent say that the Hogs did everything expected and that was all. Said a Bama defensive lineman about the Hogs lack of offensive imagination: "Coaches told us the first five plays you get in the game, that’s going to be the game, and they kept it simple."

Nutt: Fixing offense 'will be easy' [Ark Dem-Gaz]
Hogs Have Hands Full This Week [Whole Hog Sports]
Hog Offense is No Surprise to Tide [Whole Hogs Sports]

Five for Friday, Vol. 3: Special Tropical Storm Weekend Edition

OK, so Friday ended up being more hectic than anticipated and I didn't get to this until Sunday - but I did get to it. With Hurricane/Tropical Storm Rita bearing down on Arkansas after making it ashore and projections of lots of rain (which indeed held true with rain through much of Saturday and some of Sunday)...I had my own brain storm: My favorite "rain" songs.

So here we go...

1. "November Rain" - Guns N' Roses - Epic. Who knew back then that Axl could pull off Elton John-esque theatrics and on the piano as well?!? Come back Axl. Rock needs you. Plus two beautiful guitar solos from Slash.

2. "Only Happy When It Rains" - Garbage - Perfect song. Great lyrics. Plus I've always had a crush on Shirley Manson (though she's just out of the running for the Five Freebie List (more on that later). "I'm only happy when it rains/I'm only happy when it's complicated"

3. "Purple Rain" - Prince - Back in my junior high years, when this came out, it took me a long time to warm to it. It's a ballad. I'm a rocker. Plus, all I wanted to listen to on that album was "Darling Nikki." But then, one day, it hit me...His Royal Badness pours his soul out. THIS is what it sounds like, when doves cry.

4. "Another Rainy Night (Without You)" - Queensryche - Another perfectly-crafted tune from one of the non-Grunge Seattle bands. I agree Geoff it is "strange how laughter looks like crying with no sound/ raindrops taste like tears, without the pain."

5. (tie) "Rain When I Die" - Alice In Chains - From my favorite of the Seattle grunge bands - one that went away too soon. A painful dirge that became all too true. And a week ago, I'm not lying here, I hydroplaned a 360-degree spin on a wet freeway off ramp and when I came to a stop, the second thing I realized after I discovered I was OK and fortunately there was no traffic behind me...was that this song was playing on my iPod. Talk about Head Creeps.

5. (tie - yeah, I know I'm cheating to get more songs, but it's my blog, so get over it) "Hold Back the Rain" - Duran Duran - OK, some may think of this as a throwaway song off Duran's masterpiece, "Rio," but I've always thought this rocked and really hit home at a point in my life when I needed it (again back in junior high).

Honorable mention:
"Rain" - The Beatles
"Crying in The Rain" - Whitesnake
"Here Comes The Rain Again" - Eurythmics

Photograph

Wonkette pointed me to this totally cool pic of Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), who whipped out his camera phone in the midst of the final Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Supreme Court Chief Justice nominee John Roberts to record the blessed event for posterity. The Washington Post gives us a cutesy account of the event but doesn't get around to asking the senator what promopted his photo frenzy.

But anyway, I have got to get me one of those things...I mean a camera phone, not a Republican senator.

Smile and Say Conservative Hegemony [Wonkette]
At Final Day of Roberts Hearings, Hatch Snaps...and Snaps [Wash Post]

INXS Gets What They Need

Well, INXS finished its foray into reality TV on Tuesday, with the Australian band picking JD Fortune as its new lead singer. Those at JP World Headquarters were pulling for Marty Casey, but in the end, we had to admit that he was probably not right for their band, INXS.

I had originally written the show off and was disappointed that INXS was going the cheesy reality show route to find a singer. But I was pleasantly surprised at how fun it was and how good most of the performers were. Third-place finisher MiG was my early favorite, but he seemed to fade down the stretch just as JD, an ex Elvis impersonator, and Marty gained speed. JD originally seemed a jerk but calmed down late and had arguably the best finals performance. And "Pretty Vegas" is a catchy song - as is Marty's "Trees."

MiG - who was the target of Internet conspiracy theories that he was a ringer picked by the band and the show's producer - aired some sour grapes to Australia's Daily Telegraph, saying INXS was just looking for a "bad boy." He added, "Everything that JD did that was a bit unfair or a bit risque or a bit 'dude, that's really out of line', INXS said, 'That's fantastic'."

Marty was a bit more diplomatic, saying his "heart sank" when the band picked JD. But the possibility of his band opening for INXS "kind of feels like its the right thing to happen to me."

The show's ratings were mixed. The Telegraph says the finale was the most-watched show on Australian pay-TV, with almost 500,000 viewers. The finale garnered the series' highest ratings, with some 7.9 million viewers, for what the Hollywood Reporter called a "disappointing three month run." The finale was outdrawn by NBC's "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" season premiere but edged out ABC's "Wife Swap."

Meanwhile, another JP music fave, Shirley Manson and Garbage was dissing INXS for going the reality show route (while denying rumors of her band's breakup). She told E! Online: "It isn't INXS without Michael Hutchence," Manson opined. "I feel like in life you have to be prepared to let go of something in order for new growth to occur in your life. And I think it is unhealthy to be constantly coming back to recreate the past. You should forge forward instead of being sentimental about things that have gone by."

INXS promises a new album and tour to follow soon. And reality show kingpin Mark Burnett predicts a second season of Rockstar with a band to be named later.

MiG Too Good for INXS [The Daily Telegraph]
Chicagoan Makes Most of INXS Close Call [Chicago Sun-Times]
NBC Wins Tuesday [Hollywood Reporter]
Manson: Garbage Split Rubbish [E! Online via Yahoo! News]

So many social engagements...

...so little time.

Been a hectic several days, thus no updates. Trust me, it's not because I don't think about you.

Spent an extended weekend in Dallas. Visited Oktoberfest at Addison. Watched the Hogs get slaughtered (ouch!) by top-ranked USC. I thought surely, they'd keep it within the 32-point spread. Now the din of wailing and gnashing of teeth in Razorback land is nearly unbearable. Is it truly the end of times? Oh wait, I think USC just scored AGAIN! Maybe the Hogs defense will make the trip to Bama for Saturday's game. But the Democrat-Gazette tells us that after the most last 4 embarassing losses in the modern era, the Hogs have bounced back to win the following week.

On Sunday, we walked through the new IKEA store (it was more fun than I expected).

Then it was Monday Night Football and my favorite Cowboys taking on classic rivals, the Washington Redskins. Plus, the 'Boys inducted three of my favorites, Emmitt Smith, Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin into the Cowboys Ring of Honor at Texas Stadium.

Meanwhile on the field, the Cowboys blew a 13-point lead by giving up 2 long TD passes in the game's final 3 minutes. Oh, then it was a 2 mile walk up a busy Interstate after midnight back to the car.

It was a great time - except sportswise. My photos from the Cowboys game to follow soon.

Five for Friday, Vol. 2: High School Edition

This week, Pop Culture Junkie JP picks his five favorite movies about high school. It's a list that could've easily been handed entirely over to that Lord of 80s High School Movies, John Hughes. He gave us a lot of classics that explored the world of cliques and homecoming games...of pep rallies and proms...all about "the sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies [and] dickheads" but then moved on to kiddie movies, giving us Home Alone, Beethoven. So here are the flicks voted Most Likely To Succeed on My DVD Player.

1. The Breakfast Club - The Hughes Man hit a home run in this story of a Saturday spent in detention by a handful of students representing all the classic high school archtypes, assigned by a vindictive assistant principal to write an essay on who they think they are. In the day's time they discover that beneath the fronts and stereotypes projected on them by others, that these five students aren't so different after all. "Dear Mr. Vernon: ... You see us as you want to see us: in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club."

2. Fast Times At Ridgemont High - Cameron Crowe's "awesome...totally awesome" view of high school, circa early 1980s. The scene with Phoebe Cates climbing out of the pool, undoing her bikini top was an image burned into my adolescent brain. And then there's the Philosophy on "Attitude" by ticket scalper Mike DeMone: "The attitude dictates that you don't care whether she comes, stays, lays, or prays. I mean whatever happens, your toes are still tappin'. Now when you got that, then you have the attitude."

3. Ferris Bueller's Day Off - John Hughes' Strikes Back with a the movie's namesake cutting school for a memorable day in Chicago. "I quote John Lennon, 'I don't believe in The Beatles, I just believe in me.' Good point there. After all, he was the walrus. I could be the walrus but I'd still have to bum rides off of people."

4. Sixteen Candles - Hughes' first HS masterpiece with Samantha's (Molly Ringwald) parents forgetting her 16th birthday. And Farmer Ted's classic question: "Can I borrow your underpants for 10 minutes?" Anyone who doesn't get choked up at the end when the Thompson Twins' song swells and Sam finds that her dream guy was waiting for her after her sister's wedding never knew what it was like to have an unrequited crush in high school.

5. Election - Scathingly sharp and hilarious satire as an annoying overachiever (Reese Witherspoon nails it) runs for student body president. In an obvious homage to the Master, the hapless high school teacher is played by Matthew "Ferris Bueller" Broderick. And Chris Klein's deadpan doofus jock is priceless: "Dear God, than you for all your blessings. You've given me so many things, like good health, nice parents, a nice truck, and what I'm told is a large penis, and I'm very grateful ..."

Honorable mentions:
Pretty In Pink - More Hughes. Duckie: "What a volcanic ensemble you're wearing. You know, hot...dangerous."
Dazed and Confused - Made gold by Wooderson's "That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age."
American Pie - Porky's The Next Generation...but smarter and with hotter chicks. "This one time...at band camp..."

Maybe He Wore It For Cheney

You gotta give it to JD, one of the final contestants on CBS' Rockstar: INXS. We at JP World Headquarters don't much like him because he usually acts like an arrogant jerk, but he apparently was ballsy enough to wear a little t-shirt profanity that managed to slip past the censors. Defamer points us to Tian, who apparently has learned that when you look at the Asian-looking characters sideways, they spell out the vice president's favorite profanity. (Yeah, we've been enjoying that Cheney video the last couple days and trying to figure out a way to work it into the blog.)

Rockstar F's CBS [Defamer]
Go F_ck Yourself [What Tian Has Learned]
Cheney Dismisses Critic With Obscenity [Wash Post]
Son of Cheney And The Barnyard Epithet [Wonkette]

Five For Friday, Vol. 1

OK, new feature here in Jonworld. Been pondering it for a while but the hurricane derailed me. I am a list person, so why not inflict lists of a few of my favorite things (I promise no "raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens") on an unsuspecting world.

Today's installment:
Top 5 songs heard to on JP's iPod today

1. Slap In The Face - LA Guns - "Kamikaze hitman, love on the run/no mercy for the children of the night"...listened to this barnburner while doing the noon workout on the elliptical machine.
2. Better Than You - Metallica - Fighting traffic this morning on I-30, I needed something sneering and uptempo.
3. Kick - INXS - Watching Rockstar INXS really has me delving into my INXS catalog regularly. Always remember "Sometimes you kick/sometimes you get kicked."
4. Eye of The Beholder - Metallica - It was a 'tallica kind of day. "Doesn't matter what you see, or into it what you read/You can do it your own way, if it's done just how I say"
5. I Like to Move It - Reel to Real - OK, the kids liked the movie Madagascar. This song was in the movie. It's on my iPod to calm them down occasionally.

Tune in next Friday for:
JP's top 5 favorite movies about high school, aka John Hughes is God

Sad But True

Thanks to one of our Texas friends who forwarded this photo making rounds on the Internets. Looks to be a happy accident via Sky News. Could be doctored but it looks about right anyway.

TGIF

It's a long-known PR practice that any bad news is released on Friday afternoon - under the assumption that it minimized the attention since a lot of folks have tuned out in advance of the weekend and harkening back to Old Media days when most newspapers had all but wrapped up their weekend editions.

In today's 24-hour news cycle of cable TV news and the Internet, a Friday release doesn't necessarily minimize attention to bad news...but anyway...

FEMA Chief Relieved of Katrina Duties [AP via Yahoo!]

There are also questions about Brown's resume from TIME mag...

Blame It On The Rain

Shouting voices, pointing fingers and partisan sniping. Hurricane Katrina-gate is underway with Democrats and Republicans be-boping and spinning like mad to turn this natural disaster that likely killed thousands and caused billions of dollars in damage to their political advantage. Investigations are promised to get to the bottom of the disaster response snafu.

Methinks there is enough blame to go around at all levels - local, state and federal. It certainly appears to have been a complete breakdown of management and preparedness. Not too heartening for those who believed we'd taken steps to better prepare our nation in the event of a terrorist attack.

But last night, as it seems is happening way too often these days, a satircal news show brings us the most cogent and logical commentary on current events. Yep, Jon Stewart and The Daily Show were back from a week's vacation on Comedy Central. TV Squad has a good summary of last night's episode.

"Has the government really messed up, bungling the whole situation? Stewart says the short answer is "yes". Long answer is "YEEEEEEEEEEES"."

Later, reporter Ed Helms, appearing at Giants Stadium (instead of the New Orleans Superdome because "I'm scared.") tells us of plans for a billion dollar dam to be built in Arkansas (home state of JP). Arkansas?

"It's simple, really. His plan is to fight the water there so we won't have to fight it here," Helms says, bringing us to the latest Bush reasoning for the war in Iraq.

The Daily Show: Sept. 6, 2005 [TV Squad]

See also, Newsview: White House Falls Out of Step [AP via Yahoo!]

You Don't Have to Live Like A Refugee

Information overload out on the Internets. Headlines running together. Something about Gilligan being named Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court after Rehnquist died in the hurricane. That can't be right.

But all I keep hearing on the radio station in my head is Tom Petty's "Refugee," which as my friends know ... I am NOT a Petty fan...but I kinda dig this song.

The AP wonders: "What do you call people who have been driven from their homes with only the clothes on their backs, unsure if they will ever be able to return, and forced to build a new life in a strange place?"

Refugees or evacuees?

And if there was any doubt about Katrina's status as a crisis, now Michael Jackson is writing a song about it. Insert your own Michael Jackson joke here...or maybe I just did.

Use of the Word 'Refugee' Stirs Debate [AP via Yahoo!]
Michael Jackson Plans Single for Katrina Victims [Reuters via Yahoo!]
Bob Denver, TV's Gilligan, is Dead [AP via Yahoo!]
Senate to Begin Roberts Hearings on Monday [AP via Yahoo!]

BarbBush: Things Working Out 'Very Well' For Poor Evacuees

One of these days, I'd love to catch up on such inane pop culture stuff as Rockstar INXS, which continues to grip JP World Headquarters (MiG, Marty and Jordis are still in it), but until then let's see what the mother of the president says about the thousands of displaced New Orleans residents after seeing them in the Houston Astrodome:

"And so many of the people in the arena here, youknow, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

Barbara Bush: Things Working Out 'Very Well' For Poor Evacuees in New Orleans [Editor & Publisher]
Meet the New Sensation, Same as The Old Sensation [Jonworld]

Read with British accent: Katrina might save journalism

Our buddy Scott Standridge pointed us to this BBC article that also highlighted many journalists finally asking tough questions in the wake of Katrina and challenging the government's view and analysis of the disasterous disaster response.

From the BBC: Katrina Might Save American Journalism [ScottStandridge.com]

Rehnquist and FEMA

With all the sad and depressing news out of Katrina land, it's nice to have a chance to chuckle. Thanks, Wonkette and her New Orleans operative:

"An operative who's been reporting on the disaster in New Orleans sent us a text message this morning:

I have a rehnquist joke for you - he's actually been dead for 4 days but fema just found him."

Text Message From New Orleans [Wonkette]

JP: New Kayne West Fan

Still not much of a hip-hop fan, but I'm digging Kayne West's new material. When he went off script on the NBC Katrina-thon to bash Bush and the disaster response in New Orleans, I was thinking I should go out and pick up his latest CD.

"West: George Bush doesn't care about black people!"

Yikes! I guess until I do, I'll have to just loop his comments on my DVR and put it to a good dance beat.

Boy, I'll be glad when this stuff calms down and I can get back to writing about pop culture and fluff as I intended.

Kayne West's Torrent of Criticism, Live on NBC [Wash Post]
The Show Didn't Benefit By Censors [LA Times]

Anne Rice: What it means to lose New Orleans

I was waiting to hear from novelist Anne Rice, who was a New Orleans institution for so long. She writes a little defensively (but she's more than a little right, I think) about her former home in the NY Times:

"...to my country I want to say this: During this crisis you failed us. You looked down on us; you dismissed our victims; you dismissed us. You want our Jazz Fest, you want our Mardi Gras, you want our cooking and our music. Then when you saw us in real trouble, when you saw a tiny minority preying on the weak among us, you called us "Sin City," and turned your backs.

Well, we are a lot more than all that. And though we may seem the most exotic, the most atmospheric and, at times, the most downtrodden part of this land, we are still part of it. We are Americans. We are you."

What It Means To Lose New Orleans [NY Times]

When Talking Heads Attack

JP Headquarters was tuned to CNN on Friday morning and saw Soledad O'Brien come unglued on Federal Emergency Management Agency boss Mike Brown - and justly so - after Brown conceded that FEMA did not know about the 1000s of people taking refuge in the New Orleans Convention Center, across from the steaming pile of a Superdome.

"How is it possible that we're getting better intel than you're getting? We had a crew in the air. We were showing live pictures of the people outside of the Convention Center." - asks a simmering Soledad.

It was a tough day for Brown, who got blistered from all sides.

This comes a day after a fuming Anderson Cooper berates U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., for her praise of government response to the disaster.

"Excuse me, Senator, I'm sorry for interrupting. I haven't heard that, because, for the last four days, I've been seeing dead bodies in the streets here in Mississippi. And to listen to politicians thanking each other and complimenting each other, you know, I got to tell you, there are a lot of people here who are very upset, and very angry, and very frustrated." - Cooper said.

Slate's Jack Shafer documents the TV talking heads starting to turn on government types on all things Katrina. Where were these guys and their demands for accountability in the runup to Iraq? Maybe we would've finished the job in Afghanistan before we took on another chore in the "Global War on Ter-err...Struggle Against Violent Extremism."

'Hot and stinking Superdome' [Jonworld]
Katrina Detritus: Rush on Broadway [Wonkette]
The Rebellion of the Talking Heads [Slate]
Washington Recasts Terror War as 'Struggle' [International Herald Tribune]

Loose the NCAA on weather-related mascots

Fresh from going on the warpath against Indian-related mascots, how long before the NCAA - in another silly, misguided effort to salve the sensitivities of victims - bans weather-related mascots in the wake of Hurricane Katrina?

Goodbye Miami Hurricanes, Tulsa Golden Hurricane and Iowa State Cyclones...

Tough luck for St. John's University. Changed your mascot from the Redmen to avoid offending any Indians. But now you're the Red Storm...ooops.

Then there's the New Orleans-based Tulane University Green Wave.

See also:
Banned in the Big Easy [LT's Dashboard]

A Can't-Do Government

Paul Krugman at the NY Times has perfectly crystallized a lot of the frustration and anger over the Hurricane Katrina disaster response thusfar (or lack thereof) in this column.

He asks three questions of the government at all levels:

"1. Why have aid and security taken so long to arrive? Katrina hit five days ago - and it was already clear by last Friday that Katrina could do immense damage along the Gulf Coast. Yet the response you'd expect from an advanced country never happened. Thousands of Americans are dead or dying, not because they refused to evacuate, but because they were too poor or too sick to get out without help - and help wasn't provided. Many have yet to receive any help at all.

2. Why wasn't more preventive action taken? After 2003 the Army Corps of Engineers sharply slowed its flood-control work, including work on sinking levees. "The corps," an Editor and Publisher article says, citing a series of articles in The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, "never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security - coming at the same time as federal tax cuts - was the reason for the strain."

3. Did the Bush administration destroy FEMA's effectiveness? The administration has, by all accounts, treated the emergency management agency like an unwanted stepchild, leading to a mass exodus of experienced professionals."

A Can't-Do Government [NY Times]

When is looting OK?

New Orleans TV station WWL, with its amazing and harrowing blog on hurricane events, posts an AP story analyzing the looting that has apparently been rampant in the city.

"Ethicists and social psychologists said in interviews that rules of human behavior -- including respect for others' property and for social order itself -- dissolve quickly in desperate circumstances like the storm's aftermath," says the AP News Analysis.

The report also quotes an ethics professor from Purdue University, who draws the line at items crucial for survival.

"Obviously stealing things like TV sets or beer or any items that aren't crucial for survival, that's a nonstarter," the professor said.

But he made an analogy: If the only pharmacy nearby were closed, and it had a drug your mother needed to stay alive, breaking into the pharmacy would be the right thing to do.

"If it's truly for survival -- and I emphasize that, really for your children or wife -- I think you have an obligation to your family that is at least as strong as the respect you have to pay other property owners," he said.

News Analysis: When Is Looting OK [AP via WWL-TV]

Wash Post does some analysis, too:
Carried Away [Washington Post]

And also, check this racial take on "looting" vs. "finding":
Finding vs. Looting [Wonkette]

'Hot and stinking Superdome'

This chilling report on the sad and desparate conditions at the Superdome in New Orleans struck me. This venue has seen classic Super Bowls, numerous college bowl games and basketball championship games. And now it sees this:

"An old man in a chaise lounge lay dead in a grassy median as hungry babies wailed around him. Around the corner, an elderly woman lay dead in her wheelchair, covered up by a blanket, and another body lay beside her wrapped in a sheet," writes the Associated Press.

It stuns me that this is going on in a major American city.

We should've been better prepared. We've known the risks were there. The New Orleans Times-Picayune did stories LAST YEAR on the horrible possibilities that we're now seeing.

After we're on the road to recovery and rebuilding...there better be a full reckoning about what went wrong and how it can be prevented from happening this way again. From the emergency preparedness issues to the disaster response, everthing needs to be considered.

Unrest Intensifies at the Superdome Shelter [AP via Yahoo!]
Washing Away: A Special Report [New Orleans Times-Picayune]